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Last Active 06-13-18 8:19 am
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| Definitive Post-rock
Quite often there are requests for post-rock recs. People are interested in the genre but don't know where to begin. Or, people want to understand where the genre came from, wanting to learn about the history and influences behind more recent post-rock. Usually the recs include long lists of each commenter's personal favourite, and it's hard to know what to pick out. This is a list of the bare essential albums. Those genre-defining oldies, those modern classics, and those albums considered seminal in defining each new movement for the genre. This list isn't comprehensive, and doesn't include all of the deep cuts that many people might identify as their favourite post-rock album. But if you're new to the genre, this should help you with what to look for to learn more about it. This isn't a list of my personal favourites. This is more of an overview of the genre, and there are some real classics that are definitely worth checking out. | | 1 |  | Slint
Spiderland
(1991) Spiderland is often regarded as one of the best albums of the 90's. It's intense, dark and at times aggressive. It was experimental for its time, featuring spoken-word sections, unpredictable song structures and powerful rock outbursts. Vocals are prevalent. | | 2 |  | Talk Talk
Laughing Stock
(1991) Though identified as being one of the more significant albums in the history of post-rock, Laughing Stock actually shared very little in common with Spiderland with regards to its sound. Although it's similar in its wandering song structures and experimental approaches, Laughing Stock is much more ambient and jazz-oriented than Spiderland, favouring melody over dissonance. Vocals are prevalent. | | 3 |  | Bark Psychosis
Hex
(1994) Bark Psychosis owe a lot of their sound to Talk Talk. Though the influence is clear, Bark Psychosis expanded on the blueprint laid down by their predecessors, with an even greater command of misty, dark ambiance. This album paints a wonderful soundscape. Vocals are prevalent. | | 4 |  | Tortoise
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
(1996) Tortoise move post-rock into the realm of instrumental, electronically-drenched experimentation. Vocals are absent. | | 5 |  | Mogwai
Young Team
(1997) Young Team is Mogwai's first full-length and without a doubt their most important. Young Team expands on the formula laid down by Slint in 1991, with their own take on dark, aggressive and emotionally-charged rock music. As was to become the trend, Young Team is a mostly-instrumental album, with some spoken-word samples and scattered "singing". | | 6 |  | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas...
(2000) Without much doubt the band with the most critically-acclaimed career within the post-rock genre. Godspeed You! Black Emperor's music is of a very narrative, dramatic approach. Using spoken-word samples (but no sung vocals) and long stretches of ambient noise, as well as classical instrumentation, Godspeed You! Black Emperor's music is very epic in scope. F#A# could comfortably have been chosen in place of this album -- take your pick. | | 7 |  | Sigur Ros
( )
(2002) It might seem strange that Sigur Ros was the band to take post-rock to the masses, because their music is anything but conventional. Combining high-pitched, incoherent vocals with lush, ambient soundscapes, ( ) is a thing of beauty. | | 8 |  | Explosions in the Sky
The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
(2003) The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place is the definitive post-rock album of the modern era. It is an album that spawned many clones in years to come, due to its simple and accessible approach to post-rock. Despite this, their music is still incredibly powerful; it's one of the more attractive albums of the genre. Entirely instrumental. | | 9 |  | God Is an Astronaut
All Is Violent, All Is Bright
(2005) Take a premise and condense all the best bits. This seems to be the approach taken by God Is an Astronaut, and it's what made them easily accessible and well-known world-wide. Their songs are, for the most part, much shorter than those of their predecessors, allowing post-rock to be experienced in more bite-sized chunks. Their music is more electronic than bands like Explosions in the Sky. Entirely instrumental. | | 10 |  | This Will Destroy You
Young Mountain
(2006) This Will Destroy You took the sound pioneered by Explosions in the Sky (though the band would state otherwise) and stripped it down to its basic emotional beauty. This is a recommended next-step for fans of The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place. Entirely instrumental. | | 11 |  | Yndi Halda
Enjoy Eternal Bliss
(2007) Enjoy Eternal Bliss remains one of the favoured albums among post-rock fans today. Explosions in the Sky with strings, to put it simply. (Almost) entirely instrumental. | | 12 |  | Moving Mountains
Pneuma
(2007) Though certainly not the first post-rock band to have a prominent use of vocals, Moving Mountains are exceptional in just how well they proved that post-rock could be used as a backdrop to any style of music. Pneuma is a melting pot of post-rock and emo, with a cleverly-unified theme and emotional singing. | | 13 |  | Mono
Hymn to the Immortal Wind
(2009) Hymn to the Immortal Wind yearns to make you weep at its beauty. It makes every possible effort to tug at your heart strings, and more often than not, it succeeds. Similar to Yndi Halda but more pensive and gradual with its builds. Entirely instrumental. | | 14 |  | Do Make Say Think
Other Truths
(2009) Do Make Say Think have a lot in common with earlier pioneers of post-rock, with a jazzy and somewhat immediate approach to songwriting. Perhaps the perfect blend of epic and fun. (Almost) entirely instrumental. | |
minty901
04.30.12 | The best place to start is with 8. Then, expand out in either (or both) direction. i want to edit some errors in this, but fear the dreaded 'r' bug. | Twelve51
04.30.12 | Great list! This couldn't have come at a better time either because I've been really wanting to start listening to some post-rock lately to see if I like it. I'm thinking of starting with Slint, Sigur Ros, and Godspeed You Black Emperor. Other than Explosions in the Sky are there any others you would say would be a good starting point? | Hyperion1001
04.30.12 | bark psychosis is great | DominionMM1
04.30.12 | Pelican- The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw | Sirob
04.30.12 | nice list | VisionsFromTheDarkSide
04.30.12 | Well I think it's fair to say this helped me out with regards to the list I just made, thanks man
| Hyperion1001
04.30.12 | lol pelican are you serious? | macadoolahicky
04.30.12 | Holy shit, good thing you have 2 on there, my testicles were about to blow up.
Wait...
...no Hammock...
wut | fulgrim
04.30.12 | sweet list, got pretty much all of the essentials on here. | eternium
04.30.12 | I approve of this. | DominionMM1
04.30.12 | "lol pelican are you serious?"
of course | Eons
04.30.12 | Post-rock = pretentious hipster trash. | Trebor.
04.30.12 | Love most of these | Sirob
04.30.12 | fuck you eons | auberginedreams
05.01.12 | yndi halda is the best.
| djunior
05.01.12 | Moving Mountains instead of Appleseed Cast? no | Trebor.
05.01.12 | Moving Mountains are better, but yeah should have both | Rev
05.01.12 | should have You, You're a History in Rust or Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn instead of 14, superior albums | auberginedreams
05.01.12 | should have meanwhile back in communist russia - indian ink | minty901
05.01.12 | yeah a few of these could be arguable. i almost included hammock, but i figure they're more important to the ambient scene than the purely post-rock scene. was very, very close to including them.
also i think moving mountains are more definitively post-rock. appleseed cast have always straddled between a number of different genres, they only really settled into a purely post-rock sound in 2009. moving mountains made a real name for themselves and have sort of reinvigorated modern emo/post-rock. look at bands like athletics, cast before the break etc. i could have used a bunny's caravan instead, too, but i dont think theyve made as much of an impact as moving mountains.
and about do make say think. thats the beauty of that band is that they're very consistent, there are a couple of albums you could pick out. but i think other truths is a good place to start with them as they're only getting better with each release. | minty901
05.01.12 | other than eits, you could start anywhere. i wouldn't recommend starting with 1-4 as they're not too indicative of what post-rock generally sounds like (at least nowadays). other than that, take your pick i guess. i started with 8 and expanded out in either direction, worked well for me. | Aids
05.01.12 | 9 is so overrated but this is a good list overall
if youre only doing 1 album per artist fair enough but an "essential post-rock" list without Slow Riot makes my brain hurt. | artificialbox
05.01.12 | awesome. commenting so I can find this list later because it's 2:30 am and I have to sleep | minty901
05.01.12 | yeah i am doing 1 per artist. wanted to give an overview of the genre rather than including ALL of the albums that are worth getting. if people like an album here then presumably they would search out the band's other albums.
and i agree, 9 is overrated. i wanted to remove too much of my own opinions from this. give the albums that are widely considered to be important, and likely would be recommended by most, but not necessarily by me. 9 is good, and it provides something different to what the other albums do here. if what you're looking for is bite-sized post-rock (not me, really), then 9 is perfect. | Irving
05.01.12 | Fantastic list. Calling for a feature. | Irving
05.01.12 | PS - This is what lists SHOULD be. | Aids
05.01.12 | "9 is good, and it provides something different to what the other albums do here"
yeah but not really. I mean if you want by-the-books build-ep/crescendo/epic climax post-rock then Mono is 1000x better. I get you removing personal bias though. I just don't think it's that important to the genre and really don't understand why people love it so much.
what you need to check out though is a band called Jaga Jazzist. their album "What We Must" is a masterpiece, my second favourite Post-Rock LP behind LYSF. It's more Jazz than Post-Rock but definitely fits in the category. Similar to Tortoise (who are another must if you haven't heard them already). | minty901
05.01.12 | thats the thing i wouldnt call 9 by the books, build up, epic, crescendo. their songs are punchy and to the point, even catchy. mono is better, yeah but i think theyre for different moods. i dont quite get why its as loved as it is, but like it or not, it IS loved. god is an astronaut are one of the most popular post-rock bands in the world, and 9 is their cornerstone album. its pretty much the album that proved PR can be concise | Aids
05.01.12 | and for ( ) put two spaces between the brackets to get the artwork to show up. | Aids
05.01.12 | yeah idk i haven't listened to 9 for a while haha don't listen to me. | minty901
05.01.12 | cheers for the tip. fixed the artwork.
edit: also fixed some other grammatical errors etc | Aids
05.01.12 | looks way better now. I'm a list-artwork nazi haha. | stabbler
05.01.12 | 8 are seriously boring
i'd add a few others off constellation: Silver Mt Zion, Hrsta and Fly Pan Am. Earth have also done a few post-rock albums to qualify for this list.
And what about Low? Post-rock can be hard to define sometimes | minty901
05.01.12 | 8 does seem to polarize fans of the genre. for me, 8 is the greatest album of all time, without a doubt. others find nothing to like about it. it's definitely worth checking out, if only just to find which camp you fall into. also good to give an idea of what else to look into. if people check out 8 and like it, then it might be best to proceed down the list, with more modern stuff like mono and this will destroy you. if people aren't convinced by 8, then they'll probably benefit more from moving up the list to the older stuff. at least thats the impression i get. opinions do vary, of course. | stabbler
05.01.12 | I like a lot of the stuff on your list either side of 8.
And I wasn't having a dig at the album specifically; I was having a dig at the band in general.
| minty901
05.01.12 | oh and @stabbler, i haven't really checked out those bands you mentioned in too much depth, though i plan to.
Caspian's "The Four Trees" could also have gone on this list if i wanted to include a little more (but perhaps it doesnt quite cut it in terms of important/definitive post-rock in a concise list), along with Hammock ("Raising Your Voice.. Trying to Stop an Echo") if i was going to make more of an allowance for ambient. | minty901
05.01.12 | thats cool. either way, i didn't take it as you "having a dig" moreover just voicing your opinion, which is cool. | BaconStarship
05.03.12 | Really good list, great gateway list for anyone who wants to get into the genre. i gotta come clean though, this will destroy you is garbage imo
| Graveyard
05.03.12 | nice list
a bit generic though, but whatever | Graveyard
05.03.12 | "lol pelican are you serious?"
depends on which album of theirs | jdennis31
05.03.12 | sigur ros song on vanilla sky makes it like one of the saddest movies ever. i seriously couldn't keep watching cause it was depressing the fuck out of me | bakkermaarten007
05.03.12 | "(2007) Enjoy Eternal Bliss remains one of the favoured albums among post-rock fans today. Explosions in the Sky with strings, to put it simply. ENTIRELY INSTRUMENTAL."
No it isn't, Dash & Blast and A Song For Starlit Beaches both contain some vocal sections. | Graveyard
05.03.12 | "(2002) It might seem strange that Sigur Ros was the band to take post-rock to the masses"
wrong | Graveyard
05.03.12 | "Godspeed You! Black Emperor's music is very epic in scope. Like Young Team with a little more to say."
this makes no sense | stabbler
05.03.12 | lol - nice work actually reading the list | minty901
05.03.12 | cheers for the input. ill make changes shortly. i haven't listened to enjoy eternal bliss in a long time so was sort of going by memory, but you're right.
and i dont know what you mean, graveyard, about the sigur ros thing. they are by far the most well-known post-rock band, even by people unaware of the scene. i know loads of people who have heard of / like sigur ros who have never heard of mogwai or eits or post-rock in general | minty901
05.03.12 | @baconstarship i can see why someone might think twdy is crap. their music is so simple and samey. but for me, the way they play each note with such fragility is really moving. admittedly that mostly applies to their s/t, im not as much a fan of young mountain. i know im in the minority. | ANJ45
04.12.13 | I prefer Agaetis Byrjun to ( ), but awesome list otherwise. |
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